Introduction
In many scientific environments, the stereotype of a “mad scientist” or practically all famous scientists in the media ever, no matter good or bad or neutral or anything else, are cisgender white males who present in a quite masculine manner. Additionally, these people often use women, either against their will or by some fantasy where women are automatically drawn to the stereotypical male protagonists, even if not that in the first place, and this can also hint that all of these scientists are perceived as straight. Often, if sexuality is not mentioned at all, viewers of this media usually assume that the character is heterosexual. It’s similar in technology, engineering, and math. All over the media, there will be a team of cishet, white, male protagonists. The chemist, who’s slightly insane; the hacker, who’s a complete nerd; the engineer, whose hands are always dirty and is often fixing something; and the mathematician, who’s the smart guy on the team. These stereotypes lead to the ring of oppression, prejudice, and discrimination. This discrimination in the workplace is extremely unhealthy for the people there and must be stopped. “Preventing discrimination and harassment in the workplace and building these spaces into inclusive environments supports all members' well-being and productivity. Most importantly, scientists must come to understand personal identity as inherently connected to scientific practice and productivity, rather than as an afterthought or distraction. The field of geosciences stands to benefit greatly from an expanded understanding of who belongs to the community, and in welcoming more people to be part of it.”Mattheis, A. “Understanding the Impact of Personal Identities on Productivity in the Geosciences: Lessons from research on Gender and Sexual Diversity in STEM.” adsabs. December 2018. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2018AGUFMED41B..05M :In addition to the masculine stereotype, femininity is often discouraged in many STEM fields. To be feminine in a STEM field, whether the person is LGBTQ+ or not, is often associated with being queer.Hoskin, Rhea A. “Femmephobia: The Role of Anti-Femininity and Gender Policing in LGBTQ+ People’s Experiences of Discrimination.” springerlink. 20 February 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-019-01021-3 Therefore, LGBTQ+ prejudice, oppression, and discrimination have led to making people think that those who are feminine or LGBTQ+ are harmful, weak, or somehow inferior to the normal, mainstream STEM people. Also, because of those stereotypes, many people of color are discouraged from joining the STEM fields. The challenge for these marginalized communities, who are often grouped into “people of color,” face similar challenges as LGBTQ+ and female or feminine people. All humans have the right to join the STEM workforce, but many of them are strongly discouraged from doing it based on things that they were born with. Skin color, gender, sexuality, ability/disability, religion, and many more things should not prevent anyone from being who they are and who they want to be. These also should not give people an unfair advantage over others because if one person benefits and another does not, it corrupts the society. :It’s extremely important to have diversity in all fields, like STEM, because that makes sure that everyone has equal representation in their field of work. When diversity is looked down upon, the professions lose people, efficiency, community, and many other things. Category:Main